Experts for Leasehold Conveyancing in Coven

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Coven, you will need to chose a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Clydesdale , Birmingham Midshires or NatWest make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

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Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Coven. Before diving in I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Coven - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My wife and I may need to let out our Coven garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Coven conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Your lease governs relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Coven do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Coven where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Coven conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Coven with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

  • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Coven can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Coven leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
  • A minority of Coven leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Coven home move. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • Are there common problems that you see in leases for Coven properties?

    There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Coven. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

    • Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
    • Insurance obligations
    • A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
    • Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

    You will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

    I own a split level flat in Coven, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Coven with an extended lease are worth £196,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2090

    With only 64 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £17,100 and £19,800 plus professional fees.

    The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in Coven